Lisa Ann Verge’s HEAVEN IN HIS ARMS – Fur Trapper Love in the French Canadian Wilderness

The story begins in Paris in 1670 where Genevieve Lalande, an orphan and illegitimate daughter of a courtesan, struggles to survive. Desperate for a new life, she trades identities with a woman who is among those chosen to be brides for the settlers in the new French colony of Quebec.

A fur trader in the Canadian wilderness, Andre Lefebvre is not happy to learn he must wed in order to keep his license. Given a choice of women, he selects the pale, sickly Genevieve, believing she can't possibly live. But he is wrong. She gets well. When she realizes he married her hoping she would die, she follows him into the wilderness demanding he treat her as a wife. Despite the temptation of her beauty, Andre doesn’t want to consummate the marriage because he plans to annul it.

The story reflects the author’s considerable research into the era and the locations. The descriptions of the unusual setting are vivid. Rides over the rapids and portaging through the wilderness on the way to Chequamegon Bay, an inlet on Lake Superior, are exciting.

Andre was concerned about a woman’s ability to handle the difficulties but Genny matches them for endurance and cleverness at every turn, winning Andre’s respect (and his lust, of course). The dialog is often witty and the love scenes are graphic (and there are many).

Review: Gail MacMillan’s CALEDONIAN PRIVATEER – Unusual Regency with a Scottish Canadian Hero Acting the Privateer

Set in 1812, Emma Prescott flees Squire Falkner and a forced marriage in the dark of night, hoping to get to London and a ship that will take her to her brother in the Caribbean. She runs into Scottish Captain Morgan Reynolds who, by the way she is dressed, believes her to be the mistress of some British lord.

Eager to get back to London and his fiancée, and then set sail for New Brunswick, Morgan helps the mysterious runaway only because of his Highland hatred for her English pursuers. When his fiancé deserts him for a British lord, he talks Emma into pretending to be his wife so he won’t look the jilted man and they sail for Canada. With a necklace that once belonged to Marie Antoinette hidden in her bodice and a pack of hounds at her heels, Emma has few choices.

I loved the beginning. Her escape was very convincing. The hero and heroine are worthy: Morgan is a sexy, powerful and protective hero (though he does fall from grace a bit as the story goes on); and Emma’s thinking is always clear and logical (nice for a change in romance). I liked the fact the scene changed from England to Canada and the memory of all the Scots had to endure. It was interesting to see the other side of the War of 1812, too, since Morgan is a privateer, but not for America.

This was MacMillan’s debut novel and she did a great job. Her dialog is realistic and convincing and her story will hold your interest. There is no love scene but lots of interaction on the physical level (and there seems to be a fair amount of wenching going on).

The only negatives are a few improbable moments when their romance is tossed away for her stealing the necklace (being a whore was ok, but stealing was a no-no). Overall, the story is a good one. An unusual Regency, to be sure.